Charles a



(No Model.)

0. A. EVARTS.

WIcK RAISER FOR CENTRAL DRAFT LAMPS. No. 404,186. Patented May 28 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. EVARTS, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE BRAD- LEY & HUBBARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WICK-RAISER FOR CENTRAL-DRAFT LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0.404,186, dated May 28, 1889.

Application filed November 26, 1888. Serial No. 291,862. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, OHARLEs A. EVARTS, of Merid en, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in VVick-Raisers for Central- Draft Lamps; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanyin g drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitutepart of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, avertical central section showing so much of a lamp-fount as necessary to illustrate the invention, and showing the central tube and the wick-adjusting device in partial section; Fig. 2, a side view of the wickadjusting ring and its springs, looking from the right of Fig. 1, on a reduced scale; Fig. 3, a transverse section on line as o: of Fig. 1, looking downward; Fig. 4, the springs as arranged above the ring; Fig. 5, a modification in the construction of the springs.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of lamps in which a central tube opens up through the fount, and around which a corresponding tubular wick is arranged, and so that air may pass up through the central tube to support combustion, commonly called central-draft lamp s, and particularly to those lamps of this class in which the wick is adjusted by means of a sleeve surrounding the wick, and which sleeve is engaged with an arm or rod in the fount extending to some point outside the burner, so that through said rod the saidsleeve may be raised or lowered and correspondingly raise or lower the wick.

In the more general construction of this class of lamps the sleeve which embraces the wick is of considerable length, and necessarily hugs close upon the wick within the fount. A very considerable length of engagement between the sleeve and wick is necessary in order to insure the regular working of the sleeve and wick in the adjustment-that is to say, to maintain the plane of the adjusting-sleeve always at right angles to the axis of the tube around which the wick is placed.

The great length of sleeve thus desirable covers the wick to such an extent as to interfere to a considerable degree with its absorbing properties, so that the flow of oil through the wick is not as free as it would he were it less bound by the sleeve.

The object of my invention is to overcome this difliculty, yet retain the long guide for the adj Listing-sleeve; and it consists in a ring arranged around the central tube and outside the wick, so as to embrace the wick, the said ring adapted for adjustment up and down, whereby the wick may be correspondingly raised or lowered, and the. said ring constructed with vertical springs extending therefrom, so as to take a bearing upon the wick a considerable distance from the ring, as more fully hereinafter described.

In illustrating the invention I show the wick-raiser which is illustrated and described in United States Patent No. 387,156, dated July 31,1888.

A represents a portion of the fount suflicient for the illustration of the invention, B representing the central-draft tube, around which the wick Cis placed in the usual 1nanner.

D represents a metal ring of internal diameter corresponding to the external diameter of the wick, and so as to set over the wick when the wick is placed around the tube, as represented in Fig. 1. From this ring springs E project verticallyhere represented as downwardand the springs are formed from wire bent into U shape, the ends of the legs of the U secured to the lower edge of the ring D and so as to extend down outside the wick, the bend of the U being curved corresponding to the outside of the wick, and so that the elasticity of the spring serves to cause the bend of the springs to impinge 9o forcibly upon the wick, and so that if the sleeve be raised or lowered the impingement of the springs upon the wick will, in connection with the ring, produce engagement with the wick, so that the wick will rise or descend v with the ring. As represented,these springs are of a combined extent to substantially einbrace the wick throughout its circumference,

as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. These springs, being open, leave the wick bare and free for Too contact with the oil, so that they do not interfere with the proper absorption of the oil by the wick.

The ring should slide freely onto the wick, so as not to bind the wick to any considerable extent, leaving it free for capillary action in the absorption of the oil. Because the springs take a bearing on the wick so far from the ring, they support the ring to prevent its possible cramping on the tube or turning out of its natural plane, which must be at right angles to the axis of the central tube. The sprin in connection with the ring, therefore, retain their position on the wick, substantially the same as does the usual long closely-fitting sleeve-that is, the support for the adjusting device substantially the same as if it were a close'litting sleeve of a length equal to the length of the ring, plus the length of the springs-and the adjustment of the wick under this improved arrangementwillbe equally as perfect and alike at all points in its circumference as if the sleeve were made of a length equal to the length of the ring, plus the length of the springs; but because there no necessity of so close a fit upon the wick, as must be in the case of the long close sleeve, the absorbing capacity of the wick is not in terfered with under this arrangement, as it must be with a long close-fitting sleeve.

I prefer to apply the springs to the lower end of the ring D; but they may be applied above, as seen in Fig. l, or both above and below, as represented by Fi s. 2 and l combined.

The adjusting device by which the ring is adjusted is clearly represented in Fig. 1, and consists of a vertical rod, F, arrangedthrough the top of the fount outside the burner and 2 provided with an arm, G, which forms a spring to embrace the ring in an annular groove formed therein, as shown, this being the device referred to as found in United States Patent No. 387,156. The ring is disengaged from the adjuster by turning the encircling spring out of the groove.

\Vhile I prefer to make the sprin of wire, they may be made from sheet metal, attached by one end to the ring and extending therefrom to a point distantfrom the sleeve, the other end curved corresponding to the exterior surface of the wick and adapted to impinge thereon, as seen in Fig. 5. I therefore do not wish to be understood as limiting the invention to making the springs from wire, except as hereinafter particularly recited.

I claim 1. The herein-described in'iprovement in wick-raisers for central-draftlamps, consisting of the ring D, encircling the wick within the fount and in connection with the wickraising mechanism, the said ring constructed with springs extending vertically therefrom, adapted to impinge upon the surface of the wick at a distance from the ring, substantially as described.

2. In a central-draft lamp, the ring 1), adapted to encircle the wick within the fount and in connection with the wick-raising mechanism, and provided wit-h two or more U- shaped wire springs, the legs of the U attached to the ring and the bend of the U curved corresponding to the exterior surface of the wick and adapted to impinge on the wick at points distant from said ring, substantially as described.

CHARLES A. EVARTS.

\Vitnesses:

1 1B. FAIRBANKS, A. E. II'ALL. 

